Direction finder



.v Dec. 23, 19M. F. w. suLLlNGER ET A1. 2,266,918

` DIRECTIONI FINDER Original Filed Feb. 4, 1937 /24 10X K d V25 #JZ/Mya? @u MATTO NEYS Patented Dec. 23, 1941 UNIT ED ST TES- PAT-:NTT OSFF'EQEQ DIRECTION FINDER Original application February- 4, 1937, SerialrNo'lf 124,108, now Patent No. 2,174,014, Adate'dzSepq tember 26, 1939.

Divided and this application April'lZ, 1939, Serial N0. 267,390

8 Claims.

This invention relates to radio direction finders and is a division of our application Serial No. 124,108, filed `February 4, 1937, now Patent No. 2,174,014.-

An object of our invention is to provide a radio dipole to the' radio frequency ground is. overcome and the capacities of the upper and lower dipoles are rendered' substantially equal. This form of the invention can be placed in a condition of sub,- stantial balance prior to the adjustment or" the capacity or inductance balancing means to render the entire system electrically symmetrical.

Another form of the invention is embodied in an unsymmetrical spaced dipole direction nder in which the upper and lower dipoles are of unequal size and shielding meansV are provided for.. preventing largely the -pick up of the 'horizontal'.y

component vof a received wave, thusv overcoming the night effect which prevents accurate deterl mination of a radio frequency wave source.

Direction finders of the types embodying the present invention are capable of accurately determining the direction of a source of radio fre-- quency Signals because the direction finders are electrically symmetricaLthat is, opposite `dipole units deliver equal electrornotive forces to theA electrical center of' the .system Aand will maintain thiscondition regardless 'of weather or other variable factors.

For a better understanding of the present invention reference may be had to theY accompanying drawing in which:V

Fig. .1 is an. illustrative embodiment of a radio direction finder of the elevated spaced iixed type;

Fig. 2 is an illustrative embodiment of a direc.

tion finder of the elevated rotary type;

Fig. 3 ilustrates a dipolehaving Van upper of greater diameter than its lower arm;

Fig. 4 illustrates a'dipole having a screw in its lower arm. for changingthe effective ylength of thatzarm;

Fig. .f5 is "a :modified :form ofzdirectionnder wherentheupperand lowerarms of the dipoles.'

are of different lengthand thehorizontaltransi mission lines 'and 'a'portion 'of the dipoles are'enclosed in a metallic shield; `and Fig; 6 illustrates'amodication of the form of direction ndershown in Fig. 5.

Referring 4nowtothefdrawing and in the iirst' instanceV to Fig. :1, there is disclosed a direction finder Aidenticalwith one4 of' the forms of direc. tion iindersh disclosed-'1 in application Serial No. 124,108,1'of which Athisisa division. It will be noted Vthatitherfdirection finder comprises four vertical, elevatedf dipoles l0 spaced 90 apart, each havinga lowersandupper arm lll` Opposite dipoles are electricallyponnected in phase opposition .by .means oftransposed transmission -lines I I andl 2, the-flatter being `spaced 90 apart. Leadlines lrand Hl connect the center points of transmission rlinesi-ll and I2',respectively, with the` statorcoilsl5 and lof Athe radio goniometer The goniometerpls of conventional typeand has a Search coil which is rotatable' in the stator coils l5 and. I6 by meansof -a shaft I9. lThe search coil `I8 is connected'lthroughrslip rings 20 and 2l and lead lines-22 toa conventional type receiver 23. Eachof: the dipoles v1:0 shown in Fig; l is provided with. a vmatchingtransformer 2G which is connected inrseries-between .the upper and lower halvesV of each dipolepandra variable condenser connected iin shunt Vwith-each of the matchingvr transformers:

In. orderto `produce sharpminima/and thereby give'accurate bearings upon a transmitting station,- the `Ifelectromotive -force delivered by opposite dipole antennae assembliesto the mid-point 'v of their transmission :lines must be the same.

This electromotivef force is affected by a number of conditions; fasfor example,the over-all length of thefantennae, the total'inductance of the coil or otherA meansused'ffor -connecting the upper and-lower arms .of the-dipolesythe inductance of that portion/"of `the-:connecting coil across which the transmission linefis tapped; the attenuation of the transmission .line andthe vcapacity across the connecting. 'coil'.f': In practice the Ylast mentioned conditi'ont-has been? foundto Yvary most and thus produce the greatestfvariationf'in the electromotive vforce, -the variations'in .the other conf ditions being minute.

Wide-.variationsv` in felectromotive force are .likely` to occur particularly when the opposite dipolesY are :spaced a :considerable distance apart,

because? underrthisa conditi'odthe"distance' of.V the v true radio. frequency 'ground below the. 'surface of the -earth: mayA var-y2 considerably 'at the dipole locationsnv..Withidiierentispacings ofthe dipole" assemblies from true radio frequency ground, the

capacity of the dipole assemblies across the matching transformers may be considerably diff ceived ywaveand thus largely overcomes the well ferent. In order to avoid the difficulties resultingl from unequal capacities to ground of the upper and lower halves of each dipole the dipole arms may be formed of unequal size, as illustrated in .,Fig. 3. For example, the upper dipole arm 25 may be made of greater diameter-than the lower dipolek arm 2l, thus balancing out the normally f f larger capacity of the lower rod caused by its closerA approximity toground. f This type of dipole may be used with any suitableform'of connection between the lower and upper rods 21 and r2t.

the matching transformer 24 or rvariable conf For example, the connection may consist of denser 25 or a combination of these two such as is illustrated in Fig. 1.

'Ihe capacities of the upper and lower arms of the dipoles may likewise be balanced by the construction disclosed in Fig, 4. `This modication consists of providing a screw 23 in the rlower armr 2S of the dipole. By turning this screw in clocktive electrical length of the arm 29 maybe varied tween these members.

function of avoiding, at least to some extent, the

This f shield serves the pick-up of the horizontal component of the re.

l known.night effect which adversely affects ther accuracy of a direction finder. Matching transformers 34 serve to match the impedance in the the matching transformer 34 instead of the primary, as in Fig. 5.

In practice, it has been found that the forms of the invention described aboveare highly emy cient and that under all conditions ofr use sharp.

minima in the signals received from any and all directions are produced. The accurate impedance matching produced by the matching transformers has made it possible to use our directions l finders. with marked success over long distances so as to eiect a balance of capacity between arm f 29 and the ground with the capacity between` the upper arm 30 and the ground'. It rcan also be used to balance the capacities of opposite dipoles. Similarly to the arrangement shown-in Fig. 3, the

connections between the upper arm 30 and thel lower arm 29 may be of any suitable'type such as, for example, that shown in Fig.' 1.

Dipole arms of unequal size may also be used in .a spaced rotary typel of direction lfinder of the type illustrated in Fig. 2. In this formof direction iinder, two dipole assemblies l of a type similar to those of Fig. 1 areconnected by the transmission line mounted for rotation aboutth'ecenterl line midway between and parallel to the dipole assemblies. The lines I2 are connected at either side of the center taps on the matching transformer 24. Now, if the dipoles are mounted at such a height that there is an appreciable difference in capacity to ground of the upper and lower halves with equally sized dipoles as illustrated, this difference of capacity can be compensated by using dipoles of unequal effective size, such as those illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4. Lead line 36 connects the center point of the transmission line I2 to the receiver 23. The balancing condensers 25 are connected in shunt with the matching transformers 24 the same as in Fig. 1.

In balancing the capacity of either the space xed system shown in Fig. 1 or the rotating system in Fig. 2, after permanent installation, the variable condensers may be properly adjusted through the use of a light non-conducting rod. Likewise, when dipoles of unequal size such as shown in Figs. 3 and 4 are used, the installation may be made in such a way that each of the arms of the dipoles has equal or substantially equal capacity. Thus with the modification shown in Fig. 4, the screw 28 maybe turned either clockwise or counter-clockwise to balance the capacities between the upper and lower arms and ground.

A modified form of direction finder is disclosed in Fig. 5 and includes a non-symmetrical antennae arrangement in which the vertical dipoles I2 and the whole system` and under varying weather conditions.

It is to be understood that various modiiications can be made in the construction and method of operation disclosed hereinabove without departing from the scope of our invention as dened rin the following claims.

We claim: l. A radio direction finder comprising a pair of vertical dipoles each having` an upper and a lower portion of unequal'size, a matching transformer and a variable condenser electrically connecting said upper'and lower portions of each 3l and 32 have upper and lowerarms of differdipole for equalizing the capacities of said dipoles, and transposed transmission lines extendying between said dipoles Aand inductively conl nected thereto.

2. A radio direction finder comprising at least two unsymmetrical vertical dipoles each having an upper and a lower portion of unequal length, a matching transformer and variable condenser connected between said upper and lower portions for equalizing the capacities of said dipoles, transmission lines extending between said dipoles and inductively connected thereto, and a metallic shield enclosing said transmission lines and their connections with said dipoles.

3. The radio direction nnder set forth in claim 1 in which the upper portion is of greater diameter than the lower portion to compensate for the normally greater capacity between the lower portion and ground, due to their proximity, than the capacity between the upper portion and ground.

4. In a radio direction finder the combination of a pair of dipoles having arms of unequal size, means supporting said dipoles in spaced apart relationship, matching transformers electrically connected between the arms of each dipole, capacity balancing devices electrically connected between the arms of each dipole for equalizing the capacities of said dipoles, and transmission lines extending between and connected to the matching transformers associated with each dipole.

5. In a radio direction iinder the combination of a pair of dipoles having arms cf unequal size, means supporting said dipoles in spaced apart relationship for rotation about the center of said means, matching transformers electrically connected between the arms of each dipole, capacity adjusting devices electrically connected between the arms of each dipole for equalizing the capacities of said dipoles, and transmission lines extending between and connected to the matching transformers associated with each dipole.

6. The radio direction nder set forth in claim 4 comprising a metallic shield enclosing said transmission lines and their connections with said dipoles.

7. In a radio direction finder, the combination of a pair of elevated spaced dipoles each having an upper and a lower arm, an adjustable member on each lower arm for changing the eiective length of said lower arms, a matching transformer and a condenser connected between the upper and lower arms of each dipole for equalizing the capacities of said dipoles, and transposed transmission lines extending between said dipoles and connected to said transformers.

8. A radio direction finder comprising a pair of spaced dipole units each having a lower and an upper portion, one of said portions being adjustable as to length for equalizing its capacity to ground with the capacity between the other portion and ground and for equalizing the capacity of one dipole unit with respect to the other spaced dipole unit.

FERRIS W. SULLINGER. HUGO C. LEU'IERITZ. 

